Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

What better test of a minivan's mettle exists than an 8,000-mile cross-country road trip, loaded to the gills with luggage and children? That's just what Senior Editor Christian Wardlaw subjected our long-term Dodge Grand Caravan to during four weeks in August, completing a round trip from our home office in Santa Monica to the southern coast of Maine. He returned to the office refreshed and relaxed, but his opinion of the redesigned DaimlerChrysler minivans hasn't changed one whit.

To wit, he remains incensed by the lack of a fold-flat third-row seat and irritated by the lack of adjustment in the second-row captain's chairs, but still enjoys the driving character of our Dodge and thinks this is definitely the best-looking model of the current crop of minivans. But minivans aren't supposed to be fun to drive or attractive; they need to be functional first. Great handling, communicative steering, fine ride quality and stylish sheet metal all take a backseat to user-friendliness.

Why not start with the positive attributes of the 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan this month? Wardlaw reported that he was quite thankful for our ES model's self-leveling rear suspension. "On the road this summer, I saw plenty of minivans loaded down with all kinds of gear, and they were always dragging their butts close to the ground, snouts raised up, headlights beamed at overhead signage when traveling at night. My snazzy Grand Caravan, however, kept its composure at all times, remaining level, doing a brilliant job of illuminating the highway after dark. Handling was hardly affected by all the weight on board, a big plus on unfamiliar decreasing-radius off-ramps."

He also admits a begrudging affection for the power rear tailgate, a feature he had previously written off as a gimmick. "During stops to visit relatives in Arizona, Michigan, Maine and Massachusetts, I spent lots of time loading and unloading the Grand Caravan. Invariably, when the time came to pack up and hit the road, I would be muscling two giant suitcases or a well-stocked cooler as I approached the van. As long as I had planned ahead and had the key fob handy, I could get the tailgate open without stopping, dropping and popping the gate. Also, as we traveled all over the United States, the van got rather filthy, and I appreciated the ability to open or close the gate without dirtying my hands."

Why is Wardlaw's affection for the power rear tailgate begrudging? "My daughter Sarah has become fixated on the Grand Caravan's keyless entry fob. She now assumes it is her right to open both side power doors and the tailgate each and every time we get into the Grand Caravan. And with the stifling heat and humidity we endured during our trip, when her plans to play with the fob were thwarted by grumpy parents in a hurry to get the air conditioning cranking, she often went into tantrum mode. I'd just as soon trade the power doors and tailgate for an on-board entertainment system, with headphones."

Speaking of the air conditioning, our long-term DGC has an automatic three-zone climate control system. Wardlaw reported that it worked flawlessly to stifle the triple-digit heat and high humidity he and his family encountered in the central plains and on the eastern seaboard. But he's no fan of the controls used to set the temperature. "Generally, people don't futz with automatic climate control systems much," he opined in our logbook, "because they usually set a temperature, hit 'auto' and forget about it. If they make modifications, it's usually to the temperature setting. In our Dodge Grand Caravan, the temperature setting buttons are the smallest of the various controls, reducing the driver's ability to concentrate on the road." He also lamented the fact that the climate control system's recirculation mode always reset itself to fresh air ventilation each time the van was shut off and restarted.

Other benefits of our Dodge Grand Caravan include the four-disc in-dash CD changer, the outstanding Infinity sound system, the neat cell-phone holder and power point in the center console, dual power points in the lower dash area, deep door bins in which trash and maps can be stashed, and the useful multi-function trip computer. The excellent ratcheting front cupholders can hold a Big Gulp and a toddler's sippy cup with equal aplomb, and the huge removable center console is perfect for stowing CD jewel cases. The front seats are also comfortable until the sixth consecutive hour in the saddle passes, at which point, they begin to feel packed with ready-mix concrete. "My back hurt so bad during longer travel days that a bottle of Advil took up permanent residence in the small bin between the cupholders," wrote Wardlaw.

As for the DGC's touring capability, Wardlaw is impressed with the steering, suspension and brakes, but feels that improvement is necessary with regard to the engine and transmission. Dodge touts this 215-horsepower 3.8-liter V6 as the most powerful V6 in a modern minivan. And Chris does say that it's a "torque pig" that will light up the inside front wheel of the Grand Caravan when powering out of a turn. But he says it has difficulty maintaining speed on highway grades or passing at higher speeds. "At elevation in New Mexico, the DGC felt constantly winded as I crossed vast and colorful vistas. It would hold 85 mph on level ground, but the slightest incline resulted in a loss of forward momentum, a downshift and lots of racket as the van climbed back toward the preset cruising speed," noted Wardlaw. Passing on north-central Arizona two-lane roads was equally frustrating for our driver this month, with the engine providing little additional forward velocity when what should have been plenty of room to overtake was available.

Also observed was our Dodge's tendency to exhibit slushy first-to-second and second-to-third upshifts on hot days in traffic. "When this happens," wrote Wardlaw, "little is done to establish confidence in the owner that Chrysler has solved its long-standing minivan transmission troubles." He also used AutoStick a couple of times, but still feels it's a gimmick and not useful in a minivan as a substitute for a manual transmission.

During several washes in the driveways of various friends and family, Wardlaw took note of several blemishes on our long-termer. The small flap of rubber still droops from the lower trailing edge of the right-side sliding door, but now it's got white paint overspray on it from the repaired body damage it suffered a few months ago. In the right rear wheelwell, the liner coating dripped at the factory, and then got painted over, so a couple of 'icicles' hang from the top of the well. A finish problem under the passenger door is collecting enough dirt and road grime now to create a gray patch on the paint.

New problems with our van include an intermittently illuminating airbag warning lamp and a steering column that snaps, crackles and pops when the structure is taxed by expansion joints and large bumps. Regarding the airbag warning lamp, Wardlaw wrote: "Usually, the airbag light will illuminate after I've traveled over some particularly rough patch of pavement. Then, over the next bad spot, it will extinguish itself. I'm assuming it's a wiring glitch, and that in the event of an accident, the airbags will work as advertised." Given the recent unfavorable results of NHTSA and IIHS crash tests, let's hope so. Also noted was a rear cargo lamp that popped out when the tailgate was slammed, but it was easy to clip it back into place.

Wardlaw couldn't fail to mention his two biggest gripes with the way the Grand Caravan functions and devoted lots of space in the logbook to ranting about them. The first is the way the second-row captain's chairs are designed. "They don't slide fore and aft, they don't slide side-to-side, they don't raise or lower, and the headrests prohibit proper child seat installation unless they're removed and reversed. The front seatbacks are covered in hard plastic, which can't be healthy for kids in the event that they were to collapse in a rear-impact accident. And why does a company that sponsors the outstanding 'Fit for a Kid' safe child seat installation campaign fail to install ALR (automatic locking retractor) seatbelts in the second row to ensure that, in addition to the provided tether anchors, those child seats are battened down tight enough to permanently damage the upholstery?"

His other major complaint centers on the third-row seats. "After contemplating the way these seats are packaged, I wanted to tear 'em out of the van and leave them in the garage. But that was not really an option when I was visiting my parents who no longer use their home appliances, forcing everyone to eat out every night. Why take two cars when everyone could ride in one? So I brought them. At first, I folded them and then tilted them up at a 45-degree angle (my Toyota Sienna allows the same, but those seats can be stowed at a 90-degree angle). But after one of the seats crushed my golf clubs and gouged a driver, I decided to keep them anchored and just fold them in half, necessitating the storage of sporting gear in the third-row foot well. Effectively, the rear seats ate up a third of the total potential cargo space because they don't simply flip and fold into the floor like a Chevy Venture, Honda Odyssey, Mazda MPV, Oldsmobile Silhouette or Pontiac Montana, and I was left to move golf clubs, soccer balls, Razor scooters and beach gear from the third-row foot well to the cargo area at each stop during our trip."

Then Wardlaw discovered that his universal bike rack, which is designed to affix tightly to the hatches or trunks of every single vehicle on which he's ever tried it, didn't fit the Grand Caravan. (He also discovered that those nice chrome letters that spell G-R-A-N-D-C-A-R-A-V-A-N under the rear window will slide around and come unglued when you're trying to install a bike rack in the sun on a hot day.) Not only was it hard to get the rack tightened down flush to the curvature of the hatch, but the top tethers prevented the tailgate from opening when installed. So his plan to remain somewhat physically fit while on vacation was effectively thwarted. And with those two third-row seats taking up all the space, his daughter's small Barbie bike even had to stay home. Bummer. Chrysler needs to make a fold-flat third-row seat happen, and happen fast.

Our van has just over 18,000 miles on it now, and we've suffered no major mechanical failures. Wardlaw finds that the van offers a spirited drive that is surprisingly entertaining and has great-looking styling, especially with the ES model's available 17-inch chrome wheels. That's the good news.

The bad news is that people who plan to use the Grand Caravan the way a minivan should be used (toting family and cargo) might be disappointed. The van isn't packaged as well as some competitors on the market. It doesn't offer as big of a bang-for-the-buck quotient as some other minivans in terms of features for the price. It's not friendly to child-seat installation. And it didn't achieve the top crash-test scores in testing by the federal government and the insurance industry. Furthermore, during those tests, it was found that the side doors could inadvertently pop open and that fuel lines could spill gas.

Thus, Wardlaw's opinion of the 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan essentially remains unchanged from his initial impressions when we bought our long-termer. "The Grand Caravan does some things nobody expects of a minivan quite well, but doesn't do the things everybody expects of a minivan well at all."

Current Odometer: 18,139
Best Fuel Economy: 23.3 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 16.7 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 18.9 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: None
Problems: Intermittently illuminating airbag warning light, creaking steering column, loose cargo light.